THE sale of school land belonging to Christ’s College in Guildford may not go ahead despite it having the blessing of the borough council.

A community group was set to benefit from the deal although the diocese appears to have put the agreement on hold.

The college, in Larch Avenue, had been prohibited from erecting any building on the site save for the purpose of the school.

However, Guildford Borough Council’s executive recently agreed to lift a restrictive covenant on the land.

The decision was made, said the council, to ‘enable wider community benefits to be achieved by the modification of the restrictive covenant’.

The land was the site of the college’s former science block, now unused and susceptible to vandalism.

The council’s interest in the covenant had been valued at £25,000 or 5% of the transaction price, and terms between the two parties had been agreed.

As the college is a Church of England school, the Guildford Diocese was involved in the negotiations about what the land would now be used for.

In a statement, it said: “The diocese has been exploring the possibility of a change of use for the former science building to allow it to be used by the North Guildford Trust.”

The North Guildford Christian Community Trust is not formally established yet, but it was due to apply for charity status to help it raise money to pay for the new community centre is was set to have on the Christ’s College site.

However, according to the North Guildford Christian Community Trust, the plans to obtain the site have been ‘put on ice’ after the Guildford Diocese decided to review its decision to pass the land to them.

If it still goes ahead, IT training for all ages, activities for young people and social-needs workshops are among the services that the community site may offer.

Cllr Angela Gunning, whose Stoke ward contains Christ’s College said she had talked to someone from the North Guildford Christian Community Trust who was keen to make contact.

Fellow Stoke councillor Zoe Franklin added: “I’m enthusiastic about the sale. As long as they don’t work at cross-purposes with other organisations that are already doing the same kind of thing like the children’s centre, it could be fantastic.

“I believe that the community centre in Bellfields is often working at full capacity, so it would be great to have additional space.”